This invention relates generally to tire packaging, and more specifically to the packaging of large tires having beads that are susceptible to damage by lifting hooks or fork trucks during shipment.
It is widely recognized in the tire and shipping industries that tires for heavy equipment having, for example, nominal bead diameters of 508 millimeters (20 inches) and larger are very susceptible to damage when they are handled by fork trucks or lifting hooks during shipment. The use of such handling equipment is necessitated by the heavy weights of these tires which can typically range from about 225 kilograms (500 pounds) to about 6,800 kilograms (15,000 pounds). Damage frequently occurs to the bead portions of the tire because the fork truck forks, or lifting hook, pick up the tire by the bead portions.
Tire manufacturers have made various attempts at packaging tires for heavy equipment to prevent or minimize damage to the bead portions of tires during shipment, but each of the prior art tire packages has its own drawbacks. One packaging approach has been the use of wooden disks having diameters larger than the beads of a tire located on each side of the tire and fastened to one another by straps. While the disk approach does protect the inside of the tire as long as the disks remain intact, there is no hole in the disk for fork lift handling and the packaging is expensive. Furthermore fork lift operators have often punctured or removed the disks to facilitate handling and damage results to the tire. Another approach has been to place extruded rubber tubes slit to form U-shaped channels around the bead portions of a tire, place axially oriented wood spacers between the beads, and staple straps extending radially around and through the tire to the wooden spacers. This packaging is difficult to install, expensive because it is very labor intensive, and can result in tire damage if the wooden spacers split during shipment. Yet another approach has been the use of a metal rim base/flange with foam rubber or styrofoam padding between the metal rim base/flange and the tire bead; one metal rim base/flange is used for each tire bead, and they are connected to one another by tension members. This last approach is not only expensive, but can result in damage to the tire if the metal rim base/flange is kinked or distorted resulting in a rough edge during handling because the metal is not flexible or elastic enough to distort with the tire beads during handling and then return to its original shape when the tire bead does.
The expense of the packaging approaches described above is an important consideration because tires for heavy equipment are frequently shipped to distant countries making the return of the packaging materials to the tire manufacturer for re-use impractical. Of course, even if the tires are shipped a shorter distance the re-use of the packaging material is minimized by the frequent occurrence of damage to the packaging as has already been described.
A plastic bead protector and a tire package according to the present invention overcome the problems of high cost, difficult installation, and inadequate protection of the tire bead portions of prior art packaging. The reduced weight of a plastic bead protector and tire package according to the present invention, in respect to the prior art packaging, also contributes to reduced shipping costs.